Review: Shot Point Blank “Heart of a Disbeliever” CD

This is one of the only metallic hardcore bands I've heard out of Australia, but they're definitely promoting a promising image for the country's scene with this one. Expect nothing short of a half-hour of straight up NYHC styled chord progressions with viciously strained vocal shouts, balancing just the right amount of traditional old school playing with chunkier metallic runs and mosh parts, adding in a little more of a modern sound at times for variety. They keep things to the point with songs that run around two to three minutes on average and never really let up, so there's a good energy level across the various tempo shifts and whatnot. "Can't Hold Me Back" mixes a little more groove with some contemporary melody that flirts with a Swedish edge (the groove is actually far more effective than the generic Swedish stuff); while "Pretty as a Picture" takes a similar road but uses the melodic tinges more efficiently without breaking things up. "Overcome" drops one of the best breakdowns of the entire record in classic form, with "Bleeding Hearts and Pounding Fists" perfectly balancing the band's heaviness with just the right amount of melody. The production is pretty good. Of course it's not quite as polished as some bands of this nature, but it's nice and heavy, so I'm not complaining one bit. The drums sound pretty good, the bass is back there, the guitars and vocals are balanced, etc. If I could change anything I'd have 'em crank the bass a bit more in the center and warm up the guitars a little, but it sounds pretty effective for what they're doing. The layout is set up like a worn old newspaper with shitloads of text crammed in amongst a few band photos and images of bloody hands and hearts. Explanations are included for each song along with the lyrics, and though the lyrics are straightforward the explanations add more insight and show that the band is quite sincere in their coverage of traditional topics like friendship and living life for yourself, as well as things like domestic violence, the media, etc. Good stuff. These guys actually toured the US recently, which is a pretty significant accomplishment, so expect to hear more from 'em in the future.